AT&T sells, leases back West Loop building

Note: This story previously had incorrect figures for the sale price and the length of the lease. The figures have now been corrected.

(Crain's) -- A New Jersey real estate firm has purchased the 31-story West Loop office of AT&T Inc. for $275 million in a sale-leaseback deal.

Kushner Cos. closed on the purchase Friday of 225 W. Randolph St. from the San Antonio-based telecom giant, according to a source familiar with the matter. AT&T signed a 15-year lease for all the office space in the building, which is roughly 900,000 square feet.

The purchase marks the first in Chicago for Florham Park, N.J.-based Kushner, which was primarily a residential developer in the Northeast but is now buying office properties in major metropolitan markets nationwide after selling its residential business last year. The company financed the deal with $40 million in equity and a short-term temporary loan that it plans to replace with permanent financing possibly as soon as this week.

A Kushner executive declines to comment, and a spokesman for AT&T didn't respond to an e-mail seeking comment.

The sale was reported today by the Wall Street Journal.

AT&T hired the Chicago office of CB Richard Ellis Inc. to market the building in the summer.